Multiple-ply wbb j



J. A. B. SMITH. v MULTIPLE PLY WEB FOR TYPEWRITERS. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 1]. 1920.

1 ,400,572 v Patented Deg. 20, 1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE.

JESSE A. B. SMITH, OF STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSZGNOR T0 UNDERWOOD TYPE WRITER COMPANY, 035 NEW YGRK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELA't/VARE,

'MULTIPLE-ELY 'WELB FOR TYPEVJRITERS.

Original application filed July 20, 1918, Serial No; 245,810. Divided and. this ap Specification of Letters ?atent.

Patented Dec. 20, 1921.

1920. Serial No. 352,202.

T0 (ZZZ whom it may concern Be it known thatl, Jnssr. A. B. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing in Stamford, in the county of Fairlield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Multiple- Ply Webs for Typewriters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for making a composite or multiple-ply work-web for use 111 typewriting machines, as, for example, in the class of machines illustrated in the patent to lVernery & Smith, No. 1,132,055, granted March 16, 1915, in which the carbon sheets, inserted between the webs or plies, are shifted back.- wardly at intervals, preparatory to typing fresh portions of the webs or plies. In this application, which is a division of my prior application, Serial No. 245,810, filed July 20, 1918, the claims are limited to a method and apparatus by which such a web may be assembled, padded, and coiled or folded, the claims for the product being retained in the parent application. 7

In the aforesaid patent to Wernery & Smith, there is illustrated a single-piece web which is folded longitudinally in zigzag fashion, makingwhat is known as a fan-fold web. An objection that has arisen to the use of this web for some purposes, is that if the grade of paper be high enough for sending out to customers, it is too expensive to use for ofiicepurposes; it being usually desired to send the ink-ribbon copy to the customer, and to retain the carbon copies for oliice filing and other uses. Moreover, if the grade of paper is high, it is usually of such heavy quality that alarge number of copies cannot be clearly manifolded. If the paper used is thin, for manifolding, and of a low grade, for economy, it does not prove suitable to send out to customers. In other words, the same paper that is used for one purpose, must be used for all purposes; and

frequently it is found to be either too eX- pensive for one purpose or too poor for an other purpose. Again, it is desired to have certain of the plies of different-color from others, and this has heretofore been accomplished in an inexpensive way by printing a color stripe upon a portion of the broad web as it passes through the printing press preparatory to being fan-folded. Still other methods have been proposed for overcoming the rore 'oing and other difliculties attendant upon the use of the fan-fold web, but in pract ce the held for use of such web has been hunted, thereby narrowing the market for ypewritmg machines adapted to handle this classof worl.

1 l'rior to said ernery & Smith invention, tmtare wpre atteimpts to use superposed sepae wees or ies or "3 chine from sp bols' an d s de il ie ddte b f d a L l sai invention, various efforts have been made to adapt the separate web method to the lVernery & Smith machine, so as to permit the use ofsuperposed webs or plies of different colors and qualities, but all printed with a succession of similar or complementary forms. But the trouble has been encountered, that owing to the feeding of the superposed webs around the cylindrical platen of the typewriting machine, there occurs relative creepmg of the webs upon one another, this creeping being cumulative, so that after several forms have been typed, the forms on the several webs are found to be out of register with one another, so that words typed in their proper places upon one web or ply will fall out of place upon underlying webs or plies. To overcome this difficulty, several proposals have been made, one of which is to provide impallng pins upon the typewriting machine, and to form corresponding re-registering holes in all of the forms in all of the webs, thereby enabling the operator to re-register the webs preparatory to the typing of each form. This, of course, calls for additional work and attention on the part of the operator, and the holes in the paper which are apt tov prove unsightly and objectionable, particularly in the sheets which are to be sent out to the customers. Furthermore, the holes have to be large, and necessarily extra paper has to be provided or allowed on each fern to accommodate these holes, and this adds substantially to the expense of the paper and to the bulkiness of the copies intended for filing.

The object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a way whereby superposed plies or webs of different qualities and often of different colors, may be employed without incurring the described trouble of relative creeping among the several webs or plies, and without the necessity of punching obplication filed January 17,

jectionable re-registering holes in the webs, or of providing extra paper which the use of such holes necessitates.

In practising the preferred manner of manufacturing a composite product to be used in a typewriting machine, the separate single-ply webs, of a variety of colors and grades, may be printed simultaneously in the same printing press, in such a manner that the forms printed upon the various webs register accurately with one another, and while such registry is maintained, the edges of the webs are padded together, preferably by means of an adhesive material, any wellknown padding paste or glue being suitable for this purpose, especially of the kind which is elastic when dry. Rubber cement may be used in some cases; the elasticity of this or other adhesive materials being of an advantage to permit the padded web to pass readily around the platen or rolls of the typewriting machine.

The adhesive material may be applied in any suitable way, as, for example, by means of a brush or roll which may be supplied with adhesive material from a font. After the application of the adhesive material, the assembled webs or plies may be run through pressure rolls to press them together along the line of adhesive material, and these rolls may. if desired, be heated so as to facilitate the drying of the adhesive material.

Preferably the web with a single set of edges thus padded together is permitted to dry before leaving the apparatus, and, for this purpose, the web may be led up and over a roll and then allowed to fall and to form a loop, the web running up over a second roll, and so on, there being as many rolls and loops as desired, so as to secure the needed time for drying. These looping rolls may be inclosed in an oven or drying closet.

The drying rolls may be driven at suitable speed, being preferably connected to the printing press so as to secure an accurate timing of the rolls. From the drying closet, the composite web may be led into a suitable packaging device, by which the web may be given preferably a zigzag cross-fold, whereby it is compacted into a package suitable for marketing.

Such a web may be readily led through either the type-writing machine disclosed in said Wernery & Smith patent, or through other varieties of typewrlting machines, and the successive forms may be torn off after typing, and there will be no difficulty eX- perienced from accumulation of creep along the webs, since, when a portion is torn off, the remainder of the padded web remains in its original registered condition, and hence no re-registry of the plies or webs among themselves is at any time necessary, nor is it necessary to form unsightly re-registering holes therein, or to provide extra paper to accommodate the holes; while each of the various plies may be of any desired grade or color independently of the others.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the multiple printing press and padding, drying and coiling apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a portion of the devices seen at Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a fragment of the product.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation on a small scale of another form of padding and drying apparatus.

The webs or plies 10, 11, 12, 13, of which four are illustrated, although the product may comprise less or more than four webs, are passed simultaneously through a printing press comprising printing couples 1%, whereby successive forms 15 are printed upon the webs, with the forms upon each web registering with those upon the other webs. From the printing press the webs are led on to a padding apparatus, which superposes and pads the webs together while they remain in exact registry from the printing press. Preferably, the composite web is padded along only one edge at 16, Fig. 3, so that it may open out at the opposite edge for conveniently inserting the carbons.

To illustrate one method of padding or catching the plies together, there is shown a pasting roll 17 for applying adhesive material 18 to the edges of certain of the plies. This roll 17 may run in an aperture 19 in the bottom of a font 20 in which the adhesive material 18 may be placed, and this font and roll may be provided with any suitable heating device, for keeping the paste or adhesive material in proper fluent condition. In carrying out the invention in one way, the adhesive material may be applied only to the inner plies 11 and 12, as at Figs. 1 and 2, the roll being made too thin to reach the outer plies 10 and 13. All of the plies at this stage are seen converging toward the feed-rolls 21 below the font of adhesive material; suitable guide-rolls 22, over which the plies bend, being provided between the printing press and the adhesive-material-applying roll 17. The feed-rolls 21 constitute pressing rolls for bringing the adhesive-carrying edges of the plies into contact. As the plies contact, the adhesive material sticks all four plies together. The feed-rolls 21 may, if desired, be of suiiicient length to press the plies together at their adhesive edges, to make the adhesion more firm; and, if desired, the rolls 21, 22, etc., may be heated, to hasten the drying of the adhesive material. It will be understood that the feed-rolls 21 need not be long enough to reach the pasted edges, and hence that the adhesive material may remain only upon the extreme edge of the composite web and not tend to spread across the faces of the plies, so that, after the web has been typed, the plies may be'easily separated one from another.

However, if the feed-rolls 21 are used to press the pasted edges of the webs together, stationary stripping or cleaning knives 23 may be used for keeping the rolls clean from adhesive material; and, if desired, one or more couples of additional heating and feeding rolls 24 may be provided below the feed-rolls already mentioned. All of the driving rolls 21, 24, etc., may be suitably connected with the printing couples of the printing press, to secure properspeed of the composite web as it feeds through the padding and packaging apparatus.

To facilitate the drying of the padded web 25, it may be led under a guide-bar or roll 26 and looped up over a feed-roll 27, and then may be allowed to drop to form a second loop 28, whence it may rise to pass over a second feed-roll 29; and in this manner as many more loops as desired may be formed, by providing an additional feed-roll for each loop. These feed-rolls may cooperate with pressure-rolls 30, and may be connected to the rolls of the printing press so as to give the requisite speed to the composite web 25 as it travels up and down the loops. The loops may be contained in a heated oven or drying closet 31, and the web may be passed around a roll 32 and led out from said closet and between suitable feeding rolls 33 to a zigzag cross-folding device 34, which may be of any suitable or known construction and operation, and thereby the padded web may be finally compacted into a package 35 convenient for marketing.

In use, the web may be placed in a box which may rest upon the floor close to the stand which supports the typewriting machine, and the web may be led up in open condition from said box to the typewriting machine; the thinness of the composite padded web and the elasticity of the dried adhesive material permitting the web to pass freely around the platen or rolls of the typewriting machine. The invention may be carried out in various ways, and is not limited to the precise method of padding or the precise product herein described by way of illus tration; the principle of the invention being the padding of plies of web, which is coiled or reduced to a condition to be marketed in compact and available form.

In practising the invention in the manner shown in Fig. 4, the webs, in passing from the printing couples 14: of the press, are assembled between feed-rolls 36 and pass down until their edges come in contact with a pasting roll 37 below which is arranged a couple of rolls 21 corresponding to the rolls seen in Fig. l; and in place of looping the padded web 25 up and down, as seen in Fig. 1, it is carried to and fro horizontally upon endless traveling belts 38, 39, arranged in a heated drying oven or closet 40; the belts connected to run alternately in opposite directions, so that the web 25 runs to and fro in a zigzag path; suitable connections being made from the printing press rolls to the rolls 38 which carry the endless belts. From this drying closet to the web is led over feeding rolls 41 to a zigzag cross-folder 34 to produce the packaged product.

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention, and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. The combination with means for assembling a multiplicity of plies of web in superposed relation, of means for applying padding adhesive material to the edges of only the interior plies, to cause all of the plies to adhere together when assembled.

2. The combination with means for assembling a multiplicity of plies of web in superposed relation, of means for applying padding adhesive material to the edges of only the interior plies, to cause all of the plies to adhere together when assembled, and feedrolls to draw the composite web past said adhesive-material-applying means, said feedrolls operating to press the web edges together where the adhesive material has been applied.

3. The combination with means for assembling a multiplicity of plies of web in superposed relation, of means for applying padding adhesive material to the edges of only the interior plies, to cause all of the plies to adhere together when assembled, and feedrolls to draw the composite web past said adhesive-material-applying means, said feedrolls being of suiiicient length to engage the edge portions to which the adhesive material has been applied.

4. The combination with means for assembling plies of web, of means for applying adhesive material to one edge only of the interior plies only to unite the edges of all of the plies which form one edge of the composite web while at the other edge thereof the plies are left free to open apart.

5. The method of manufacturing a composite web of work-sheets consisting in as sembling a multiplicity of plies of web in superposed relation, and applying adhesive material to the edges of only the interior of said plies in a manner to cause them all to adhere together when assembled.

6. The method of manufacturing a composite web of work-sheets consisting in assembling a multiplicity of plies of Web in superposed relation, applying adhesive material to one edge only of only the interior of said plies in a manner to cause them all to adhere together when assembled.

7 The combination with means for assembling a multiplicity of plies or" web in superposed relation, of means for applying padding adhesive material to the edges of only the interior plies to cause all of the plies to adhere together when assembled, and feedrolls to draw the composite web past said adhesive-material-applying means, said feedrolls operating to bring the edges of the plies into contact Where the adhesive material has been applied.

8. The combination with means for assembling a multiplicity of plies of web in superposed relation, of means for applying padding adhesive material to one edge only of only the interior plies to cause all of the plies to adhere together at one edge only when assembled, and feed-rolls'to draw the composite web past said adhesive-materialapplying means, said feedrolls operating to bring the adhesive-carrying edges of the plies into contact.

9. The combination with means including feeding means for superposing plies of web having a succession of registering forms printed upon each ply, of means combined with said feeding means for applying adhesive padding material to one edge only of the interior plies only to unite the edges of all of the plies which form one edge of the composite Web, so as to pad the same while leaving the plies free for separation at the opposite edge of the composite web.

JESSE A. B. SMITH.

lVitnesses EDITH B. LIBBEY, CATHERINE A. NEWELL. 

